Monday, 29 July 2013

Discussion (sort of): Unfinished Books

I used to be the type of reader that had to finish what I started--series or book--and it would really annoy me if I didn't. But, over the years, that changed. My TBR pile got so big that I'd have to put books down and move onto something different...I still don't give up on books easily, even ones I leave unfinished are sitting in a pile I always intend to go back to.

But now, that pile of unfinished books has gotten so big and it's really starting to annoy me, and the whole starting books then leaving them unfinished for months (sometimes even years) has become a habit I really want to break.

With most of the books, it's not even that they're bad books, it's just I tried to read them at the wrong time or there was something I wanted to read more or something like that. Or some are just those kinds of books that you enjoy while you're reading them but they're easy to put down and forget about.

So I've decided to set myself a challenge to finish some of the books that are in my To Finish pile. I think I'll give myself a week to get through them, because there's other stuff I have to move on to after that.

These are the ones I'm going to try to finish (if the reviews show up on the blog, you'll know I succeeded):

1. Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy - These books are cute and fun, and this is a recent one I put down and didn't pick back up, it mostly got put down because I wasn't in the mood for it.

2. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - I love the mini-series, but with classic books I tend to be kind of bored by the writing in books like this, but because I already love the story I do really want to finish the book.

3. Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar - This book was pretty hyped up for me. A lot of reviewers that I trust said it was amazing and they threw it into the Melina Marchetta-type awesome category. I started it and read a few chapters and while the writing was good, I was just bored, so I put it down. I've wanted to pick it up again for ages but just...I didn't want to be bored again, but maybe it will pick up if I try again.

4. The Improper Life of Bezelia Grove - I think it was Stacey from ChapterChicks on youtube who recommended this one ages ago (years ago) and I remember reading it but I don't think I ever finished it, can't remember why.

5. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak - Ah, Markus Zusak. His books seem to be frequent visitors of my To Finish pile. It took me more than a year to finish The Book Thief, and I loved it when I did but his books are just so easy put down and so difficult to pick up again.

6. Jessica Rules the Dark Side - I love the first book. I think I put this one down because it was just not even close to being as good as the first book, it lacked the spark the first one had.

7. Uglies by Scott Westerfield - Everyone seems to go on about how awesome this series is, and I'm not sure if I put this down because I was just underwhelmed by it or if it's because I'm so totally burned out on the dystopian genre, but it's annoying me that I've still not finished this one.

8. Wicked by Gregory Maguire - Desire to see the musical made me pick this up. It's not bad, it's just really slow paced...it drags a lot in the beginning and it was taking too long to get to the parts I wanted to read so I put it down and just haven't gone back to it.

9. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner - Melina Marchetta loves this series. People who loved Melina's Lumatere Chronicles recommend this series. Apparently the second or third book are amazing but I need to finish this one first to get to those. The book wasn't bad, it just didn't hook me.

10. Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves - I loved Bleeding Violet (I think this is a companion novel), this one wasn't bad it just wasn't addictive like BV was so I put it down intending to pick it up again and just didn't.

Do any of you have this problem? Or do you just give up on books entirely if you can't finish them within a certain time frame? Which books are in your unfinished pile?

11 comments:

Well I definitely hope you finish Playing With Fire. As soon as I saw that on your list I made this face :o. That series is one of my favourites so I hope you are in the mood for it this time around :). The penultimate volume is releasing next month!

I can never be bothered to finish books I don't like but I do feel bad when I am just simply not in the mood for a book I know I would love otherwise, those ones I at least try to get back to and finish :) Good luck!

Yeah, I do love that series, but I've found it's more because the characters are awesome (Skulduggery is hilarious)--I tend to not care much about the plot but maybe that'll change in the later books. =P

It's a great idea to try to finish some of those started-but-put-down books. Like you, I used to finish every book I started, but can't do that anymore. I still finish most books, but I like to read obsessively. If I get pulled away too often, and it's a book that's not holding my attention very well, I might let a couple days go by without getting back to it and then...I might choose another book to start.I enjoyed I am the Messenger, but was a bit disappointed with the ending. And I really didn't like Wicked. I had to push myself the whole way through to get it read.Good luck with your goal!

Ah, I hope I have more luck with Wicked then--I had the same problem but I thought maybe it was just a slow start, if it's like that the whole way through then I'm not too optimistic about finishing it or liking it. =/

I used to be like that too, still am in a way. My started-but-put-down pile consists of The Hobbit (great story, but not fond of the writing style), Artemis Fowl (dislike the protagonist), and Forever (lack of plot). I'll finish them some day, but there are so many other great books out there to read first...

Yeah, I think reading the book might make me sympathise with the main character a bit more too because there's moments in the miniseries where it'd be nice to know what was going through her head at the time. =P